Category Archives: Black IPA

New craft breweries continue to open across the Chicago suburban area with amazing regularity. In this edition we’ve headed south-west to Oswego, where head brewer Marc Wilson is putting in the hours to ready the Oswego Brewing Company for opening in late April to mid-May.

Marc is a friend of the show from his former brewery, so of course we immediately gave him a shout to see if we could come down and get a progress report from him. The first half of this show presents that report where we get a flavor for some of the aspects of opening a new brewery and tap room, and what to expect from OBC as they make their mark on the Illinois brewing scene. Watch their build-out in pictures here…

Joining me for the second half, which we recorded up at Church Street Brewing in Itasca, is ex-co host and brewing expert, Mark Naski. Together with CSB head brewer TJ Bachorz and current co-host Chuck Fort, we do the unthinkable by comparing a helles lager from Six Ten Brewing in Tampa FL., to CSB’s own Heavenly Helles.

And finally, because growlers don’t last long, Mark has brought a couple along for tasting, and we go from Tampa to Nampa, Idaho. Crescent Brewing is a small brewery “out in the woods” as Mark says, and he brings their Tilted Kilt Pale Ale, and the Skullsplitter IPA, and we debate whether they are open for copyright issues, but finally decide that the beer speaks for itself!

The Brit joins up again with Mark Naski, beer consultant and BJCP judge, and we head down to Hopvine Brewing in Aurora to meet up with head brewer Ken McMullen. Our focus beers this week come from Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids, MI. 4 cans were donated by pod-guest and craft beer lover, Tom Ryan, who visited the brewery on his vacation. We have 3 Brewer’s Reserve and 1 limited edition to review, all which look to be unusual styles, but do they match up to the attractive packaging and reputation of the brewery?

To close out the session, we throw in a bottle that the Brit has been aching to open and share. From Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO., we have Brazzle, a golden raspberry barrel aged sour.

With the boom of the craft beer industry there have sprung up little enclaves of enthusiasts who get together to taste and share a plethora of brews, commonly known as a bottle share. We head out to Lunar Brewing in Villa Park, where on the 3rd Monday of every month a small group gets together to share their love of the craft beers.
Co-host Mark Naski participates in this tasting and invited Phil along, provided he bring beers to share – but of course!
We talk with some of the club members and get a feel for what makes craft beer so popular these days. Plus, while at Lunar, we get to taste some of their new brews on draft, including Unidentified Flying Hopject.

We’ve added a bonus tasting on the end of this edition, where we try a very-much hard to find can of Midnight Squeeze, a New England black IPA, and a collaboration from Mikerphone and Werk Force Brewing.

This will be the last podcast for about a month as Mark is heading out of town, and Phil has a date with a new hip! But, we’ll be back in late February with more tastings and brewer interviews, so stay tuned folks!

It is our 200th pubcast, and we are celebrating in the Brit and Yankee studios with many of our friends from over the years. Our guests include tavern owners, beer servers, beer historians, brewers, and beer experts…oh, and beer consumers!
Joining Mark Naski and Phil Clark are Chuck Fort (Church Street), Ken McMullen (Hopvine Brewing), John Bittermann, Jon Harlson, John Karwoski, and live by Skype, the original Yankee, Mike Lingafelter. Plus we have a couple of congratulatory messages from Sketchbook, Cademon, and Miskatonic breweries.

The Landlord has selected 8 beers that are examples of the range of brews from Illinois suburban breweries (with the exception of one from downtown), and we have a marathon tasting session. Opinions vary, and what we do find out is that there is a style for everyone.
Thanks to all who have listened over the years, we hope that we have educated, informed and entertained. Here’s to the next 200 shows! Cheers!

NOTE: this is a bumper edition, which we preface with our PSA, so listen carefully and don’t exceed your intake…spread it over a couple days!